Waltz with Bashir (movie)

In "The Congress," an ambitiously trippy and compulsively watchable dystopian saga from Israeli writer-director Ari Folman ("Waltz With Bashir") adapting a novel by Polish sci-fi author Stanislaw Lem, Robin Wright gamely and effectively plays a version of herself.

First, she's the artistically fickle, fortysomething star of the present, pushed by her agent (Harvey Keitel) and a studio head (Danny Huston, perfectly slimy) to preserve her likeness digitally so she can "star" in movies indefinitely as a photo-realistic avatar while devoting real time to a son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) going blind and deaf.

CANNES, France -- Few independent directors have won as many plaudits for their visual inventiveness as Ari Folman. Five years ago, the Israeli first-timer came to Cannes and caught the film world’s attention with his combat piece “Waltz With Bashir.” A...

In 2008, the committee that oversees the Oscars' foreign-language film category came under withering criticism for avoiding risky movies. Romania's "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," a frank account of a young girl's illegal abortion, wasn't nominated, nor...

Animated features have long been the favored medium for telling kid-friendly stories about princesses and cuddly creatures. But if New York-based animator Bill Plympton were to have his way, moviegoers would also see more hand-drawn offerings depicting...